Chapter 2 - Part 3 - About Qualities And Drawbacks
Qualities And Drawbacks Qualities are innate characteristics that give the character an advantage or positive trait. Being a Slayer is a Quality—Slayers are stronger, faster, and tougher than normal human beings. They have bad things going for them, too (lots of enemies, for one), but the ability to kick butt tends to outweigh the bad stuff. Qualities cost Quality points to acquire. Some Qualities are package deals—your character buys one Quality but gets a number of benefits, or some benefits and some downsides. Jock, Nerd, Slayer, and Vampire are all examples of these package Qualities. In general, your character is limited to purchasing one of these types of Qualities. Now, if you want to play a Nerd-Watcher or Nerd-Werewolf, talk it over with your Director. You might be able to pull that off. Directors, watch this carefully. Jock-Nerds, Werewolf-Slayers, or Vampire-Werewolves are highly suspect. Even so, we don’t recommend laughing in anyone’s face (that would be rude). Drawbacks are characteristics that somehow limit or detract from the character—bad eyesight, emotional problems, or being oh-my-god-it’s-hideous ugly, for example. Drawbacks have values. When Drawbacks are acquired, the character gains extra points that can be used to buy Qualities or skills. Think of the extra points as a little reward for making the character a bit more three-dimensional and entertaining than some plainvanilla, “nothing wrong with me” bloke. Beginning characters are limited to 10 points in Drawbacks. That does not mean players have to get 10 points’ worth of Drawbacks; most will probably end up with less than that. Changes During Play After creating the character, some (use common sense) Qualities and Drawbacks may be acquired or lost in the course of a game. For example, a scarring wound could reduce the character's Attractiveness, or a change in fortune might increase or decrease the character's Resources or Social Level. When such a change is brought about during play, no experience points are needed to purchase them. If players want to purposefully change a Quality or Drawback, they must spend experience points and come up with a good reason for the change. This intentional change is somewhat restricted though. New Qualities And Drawbacks The Quality and Drawback list presented in this chapter is far from exhaustive, although it covers most of the basics. In many cases, a “new” Quality or Drawback can be an extension or variation of an existing one. The value of the characteristic should be balanced out by the benefits or penalties it gives the character. Most Qualities or Drawbacks should be worth between one and three points; only the most powerful or crippling of them should have a value of four or higher, unless they are “combo” Qualities like Slayer or Initiative Commando. These “combos” often include Attribute bonuses; each Attribute bonus costs one character point, with the maximum bonus being +5 to any one Attribute. Training Package Qualities Certain Qualities (like Cop, Demon Hunter, and Ex-Watcher) represent special training and conditioning. Unlike supernatural Qualities like Demon or Vampire, they don't include special powers, just a few Attribute bonuses (which cannot raise Attributes beyond the human maximum) and skill adds. Some organizations may include special training for their members, justifying a newly devised Quality along these lines. Your Director should design the Quality to make sure it is fair and it works in his storyline. Typically, no training-based Quality should have more than three Attribute bonuses and no bonus should be higher than +1. Skill bennies should also be restricted to +1 or at most +2. Over all, a training package shouldn't cost more than ten points (and most should be five points or less). Navigation * Back To Contents * Previous Chapter * Next Chapter Category:Rules